


Freedom

by darkagechan



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Universe, Chapter Related, Gen, Gift Fic, One Shot, P A T H S, Zeke POV, spoilers for ch 120, this is some mystical weird shit i warn you all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-09 22:33:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20517515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkagechan/pseuds/darkagechan
Summary: Happy birthdayeliwoods-kuribohs!! 💙 you are such a gift, I hope you'll enjoy this weird fic of mine! Love you <3My tumblr:the-not-so-dark-age





	Freedom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Morningdew12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morningdew12/gifts).

> Happy birthday [eliwoods-kuribohs](https://eliwoods-kuribohs.tumblr.com)!! 💙 you are such a gift, I hope you'll enjoy this weird fic of mine! Love you <3
> 
> My tumblr: [the-not-so-dark-age](https://the-not-so-dark-age.tumblr.com)

“Where…this place…it can’t be again…”

Paths.

Zeke, somehow, was back into the astral dimension that tied together all Eldian lives. How?

His attention switched to the thin and miserable figure in front of him: it was the little girl who had rebuilt him from dust. Zeke remembered she didn’t speak at all the previous time, but it didn’t mean she was unable to; so he asked.

“What happened? Why am I here again…who are you?”

Silence. She didn’t even raise her gaze from the ground.

“Please, tell me what happened! I need to go back to my brot-”

Oh. 

No.

No. No. No. 

It couldn’t be true. 

Eren didn’t die…did he?

But Zeke’s mind worked in place of his heart, and finally everything came together as he remembered the last instants: Gabi had shot his brother, beheading him and Eren’s chopped head had fallen right in Zeke’s hand.

So that’s why he was there. Contact. Coordinate.

That also meant that maybe Eren would have come here as well, being an Eldian and a shifter. Zeke hoped so, he really needed to see his brother, to finally put in action their plan…He still couldn’t believe that Eren, the same person that was once so keen in destroying his enemies, had actually agreed to his euthanasia plan. 

It meant so much for him: finally someone who didn’t judge him, who didn’t despise him, who didn’t see him just as “the wonder boy” of Marley….but just as Zeke.

His brother meant really much to Zeke, and he promised to tell him once they got together again in that bizarre dimension. It wouldn’t have taken long, right?

And yet, as he was sitting on the sand, it seemed as if time was long. Slow. Endless.

The initial shock due to seeing his brother killed faded into quiet as adrenaline calmed down; quiet and peacefulness became boredom, and boredom emptiness.

After what seemed hours, Zeke tried to speak again with the little girl - and again, no answer back. But this time Zeke got angered (frustration and wait didn’t have a good effect), so he stood, walked towards the dirty girl and his voice came out hoarse, almost rude.

“How long do I have to wait? Where is my brother? How can I go away?”

Silent.

“I’ve been there for too long, just tell me how can I save Eren, shit!”

Silent.

“You don’t want to tell me anything!? Fuck it! At least let me see your damn face-”

He grabbed the girl’s shoulder, and he regretted it.

Chains emerged suddenly from the sand, grabbing and suffocating Zeke by the neck; they were solid, cold, and cruel around his skin, throwing him to his feet again. 

Zeke couldn’t stand anymore but he neverthless tried to rip the chains, but uselessly.

“Why did you chained me? I didn’t mean to scare you….I just need to get back to my brother please!! What’s going on?”

His voice eventually became a broken sob.

“Please…set me free…”

“But you are free.”

Zeke chocked on his sobs, almost scared by the voice. He looked up to the girl, thinking the voice came from her. She gave no signs of understanding, or living. 

Instead, before Zeke could have the time to formulate any question, the world around him started to change, to run around its own core, the sky in place of the land and land in place of the sky, a crazy spin except for them: Zeke and the girl kept staying in the centre of that running cycle.

Everything gained speed in moving, so fast Zeke couldn’t see anymore the stars or the desert, all the things merged together. The only clear vision was the girl before him, always with her gaze low and impossible to see. 

Zeke had started to feel sick by the spinning movement around him, his head hurted to the point he was on the edge of tears, so he begged the girl to stop.

Silence.

He screamed to stop.

And things stopped.

They were now in a dense forest, the tall and wide oaks covered in moss, with plenty of ferns at their feet; the air was humid, but not completely unpleasant. No apparent sign of humans, the only sound around them was birds chirping. Zeke thought if they were again in the forest of giant trees where Levi had secluded him. 

“You are free.”

Again, the mysterious voice. But this time Zeke didn’t feel as shocked as before, deciding instead to talk with the voice (surely a better option that keep panicking if he wanted to reunite with Eren somehow).

“What do you mean I am free? And…who are you?”

“I am you. I am everyone with your blood before you. I am your blood. You are me. You are everyone with my blood after me. You are my blood”.

Finally everything started to piece together. The paths, the little girl rebuilding him after the explosion, the same girl chaining him as well as proclaiming his freedom.

“You are…the Founder. You are…this little girl…”

“Yes, that was my form when I first created the titans, provoking the birth of the Eldian empire. This is the place where everything started.”

Zeke was in awe as he looked around, thousands of questions crowding his mind.

But he decided to ask only one thing:

“Can you break the King’s vow of peace?”

He needed to be free of his ancestors’ curse if he wanted to use the Coordinate with Eren and end Eldian descendance.

“Why should I? You do not need it. Look at your neck.”

Zeke lowered his gaze to his neck where chains had been, touching nothing.

The chains were gone.

He was more confused than before, but somehow braver. More confident.

“You do not hold the Founding Titan, your blood cannot be influenced by King Carl’s will. You are free.”

Blood started to rush faster in his veins, his heart racing.

“Free to do what?”

“Everything you wish.”

Zeke had no doubts about what he wished.

The secrets of paths.

The death of Eldians.

The power of the Original Titan.

“Then teach me everything.”

§§§

“I am sorry brother. But I never agreed with your plan since the beginning. I was born in this world. I am free.”

There all his hopes fell, again. Betrayed by who he loved the most.

Eren looked so angry, almost disgusted.

Zeke wanted to slap himself for being such a fool again, believing he had finally found someone who could understand him, while Eren seemed just like Grisha: too selfish, too forward to see how wrong Eldians were.

But this time Zeke wasn’t as scared as when he was a child, helpless against his parents and Marley. Against the world.

He learnt everything, and he wouldn’t be willing to be enslaved anymore to anyone, not even his brother.

So he raised, broke again his chains, feeling the power of all the previous Fritz in his blood.

You aren’t free Eren, not yet.


End file.
